Multi-seat vehicles, such as vans, minivans, sport utility vehicles, and the like, typically have middle (second row) and rear (third row) vehicles seats that are placed rearwardly of the driver's and front passenger's (first row) vehicle seats. The second and third row seats are typically selectively removable and replaceable through a large rear or side door in order to ready the vehicle for carrying cargo. Removal and replacement of these vehicle seats tends to be somewhat difficult and requires a considerable amount of effort on the part of the user, especially with respect to the middle vehicle seat.
To overcome this problem and so as to maximize cargo carrying capabilities, many second and third row seats, and even some first row passenger seats, are configurable from an upright occupiable position to a substantially horizontal load supporting position, whereat the back surface of the seatback acts as a load supporting surface, by means of forwardly folding the seatback member over the seat cushion member.
A vehicle seat having such a forwardly folding capability is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,679 issued Jan. 8th, 2002 to Smuk, and entitled Rotary Recliner Control Mechanism for Multi-function Vehicle Seat Applications. In this vehicle seat, the seatback member is forwardly foldable from its upright occupiable position over the seat cushion member to a so-called “easy entry”, (hereinafter, “E-Z entry”) position following manual manipulation of a first handle, and is forwardly foldable from either its upright occupiable position or its “E-Z entry” position to its fully forwardly folded load supporting position following manual manipulation of a second handle.
However, folding the Smuk seat forwardly to its fully forwardly folded load supporting position does not cause the track lock means to release. Accordingly, said fully forwardly folded load supporting position is realized through manual manipulation of the second handle in whichever longitudinal position the seat assembly is in when the seatback member is fully forwardly folded over the seat cushion member. This can be undesirable for at least two reasons.
Firstly, during the forward folding of a seatback member over the seat cushion member, there may be interference between the headrest of the seatback member being forwardly folded with a part of the vehicle's interior disposed immediately in front of it. For instance, a front passenger seat headrest might hit the dashboard upon forward folding of its seatback member. A second row seat, or a third row seat, might hit the rear of the seatback member disposed immediately in front of it. Such interference precludes the seatback member from forthwith reaching its fully forwardly folded position, which is unacceptable and inconvenient for a user.
Secondly, depending on the longitudinal position of the seat assembly, there may tend to be a gap between longitudinally adjacent seats that are in the fully forwardly folded position. Such gaps tends to permit objects to fall between longitudinally adjacent seats, or to become caught between them during loading. Such gaps are undesirable, and accordingly should be minimized, or even be made nonexistent.
Another significant problem involves users try to fold the seatback member from the “E-Z entry” position to the fully forwardly folded position by releasing the first handle (that invokes the “E-Z entry” function), but not the second handle that invokes the fold flat function. Upon believing that the proper handles have been activated, such that the seatback can then be forwardly folded even further to the fully forwardly folded position, users tend to push forwardly and downwardly on the seatback, even though it is still latched in the “E-Z entry” position. Accordingly, various parts and assemblies of the seat hardware can become bent or otherwise damaged, such as stop pins, handles, levers, sheathed connecting cables and so on.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a fold flat vehicle seat wherein a substantially horizontal load supporting position is attainable only in a predetermined rear longitudinal position of said seat assembly.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a fold flat vehicle seat wherein the seatback member folds over the seat cushion member to a substantially horizontal load supporting position, irrespective of the longitudinal starting position of the seat assembly.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a fold flat vehicle seat, wherein the headrest of the seatback member being forwardly folded does not interfere with a part of the vehicle's interior disposed immediately in front of it.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a fold flat vehicle seat, wherein the gap between longitudinally adjacent seats is minimized, or made nonexistent.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a fold flat vehicle seat, wherein the chance of damaging various parts or components of the mechanism is minimized, or made nonexistent, when the seatback member is folded from the “E-Z entry” position to the fully forwardly folded position.